"After that, making the choice was pretty simple. All I needed to do was give a statement that I would uphold the rules of the Order, never do anything to help or join any forces that might be targeting Angaria and that I would allow my memories to be deleted by the Overseer if it was deemed as necessary according to all the rules that I had already read. It looked like Cain had been delayed by something, because he appeared with a bottle of some kind of weird liquid in his hands which almost looked alive right after I was done, and he only looked from me to the Overseer and then said that I could taste the Merrywine later. I thought that there might be some sort of elaborate session for newcomers into the Order, but the Overseer said that I should leave and come back to the Order when I was ready to spend an extended period of time there, which was apparently necessary whenever one was newly joining. I don"t know what to expect in that period, though, and even in the rulebook, the only mentions that are present are that it is a time when every newcomer is introduced to the rich history of the Order and they are also spurred on by being shown all of the resources that they can obtain if they work hard an persevere. Ca.s.sandra was still in that catatonic state, and they said that it would take a little bit of time for her to become normal. She would apparently also require some time to adjust to her newly revealed memories after the entire thing was done, which was something that one should go through alone so that they could come out of it sane. I had already read about this elsewhere, in a theoretical study carried out by someone during the Empire that was recorded in one of the libraries that I went through, and in such cases, it is normal that people need an additional amount of time. It is almost like you have been exposed to a different life that you never knew you had, and it can be very disorienting. Still, I insisted that I needed some sort of method with which I could check up on my Commander, and I was given a display trinket which is showing her status actively. With that, I left, and called for this meeting, and here we are, sleeping, because I cannot bypa.s.s the oath while awake. My dear sovereigns, I went looking for our firebrand commander, but I could never have expected what I would find. I guess that we are looking at another extended period of time when all of you will have to take care of the affairs of our alliance. I"m not very worried, though, after seeing the way that you handled everything in my absence before. Take a few moments, and ask me if you have any queries."
After a long explanation of the extraordinary events that Daneel had been through, he sat back in his chair comfortably and waited as all the other sovereigns kept shooting glances at him while going through everything that he had just said.
The place he was in looked like the normal spot where they had their meetings, but the truth was that Daneel and all the sovereigns were currently sleeping in a single room, while Daneel was in contact with them all and was using the system to simulate this place where they were conversing without being bound by any oaths.
It was the same spell that he had used to converse with Percy, and he had gotten the bright idea to use it to bypa.s.s the Order"s oath now.
They had maintained their silence when he spoke, but their surprise and astonishment at each thing that had been revealed easily shone in their eyes, and it had been quite interesting to see each of the reactions. In the beginning, Eloise and Robert had initially been hopeful that the Order might be a place where they would find help to resist the Church, and this had been evident in the positive expectations that had been visible in their eyes. After that, though, when all of the despicable methods of the Order and their actions had been exposed, they were the ones who felt the most repulsion, and as for Elanev, he had been suspicious from the start, so he only looked as if he was happy with himself that he had spotted a rotten apple right away. After that, though, he seemed to be engaged in a discussion with the old man, and Daneel expected to find out the contents of that soon. As for Faxul, he had been mostly stoic, but that was usually the way he listened - he had a knack of not letting his emotions show, and this was something he had picked up in the time before he had started to change. This was also the same with Luther, Kellor, and Robert, who mostly managed to keep their emotions to themselves, and finally, Aran only showed relief when Daneel a.s.sured them all that Ca.s.sandra was fine, and after that, he seemed to be simmering with anger, and this was possibly because he was infuriated with the organization that had resulted in his close friend"s horrendous childhood.
Daneel"s account had been accurate except for the parts regarding the system, and he had elaborated about his inner turmoil, too. As for the part about reading about what Ca.s.sandra was going through elsewhere, it was false, as it had been told by the system that she was still in the process of allowing those memories to flood into her mind, and that going by the pace with which it was happening, it would take quite a little bit of time. Even Cain had explained that such things varied according to individuals, and although he had said that Daneel would reunite with his commander soon before, it looked like that was not going to happen unless Daneel was fine with waiting for a few days, leaving, and then coming back later.
Daneel didn"t have that kind of leisure, so he decided to first ensure that there was a way he could keep an eye on Ca.s.sandra and make sure that she was all right while he went back to the Alliance to put everything in place before coming to the Order for what might be a relatively long trip. His ambitions were grand, and he wanted to go about them meticulously and not rush things. Embracing a different side of himself did not mean that he would completely leave behind the other side that had allowed him to achieve a lot of things that he had now, and all he needed to do was find the right balance which would still allow him to continue to act according to his true calling while still utilizing the skills that he had developed so far, but with moderation, or a twist if needed.
Daneel had slipped into a reverie while his sovereigns thought about everything that had happened, so when he looked up to find that they had all fixed their gazes on him with determination s.h.i.+ning in their eyes, he was quite surprised.
It looked like they had already made some kind of decision among themselves, and Daneel was actually amused to see that it looked as if they had done so so that they could stand together and place it in front of him in a manner which he might not be able to refuse. It was almost like a bunch of children who had banded together to ask for something from their teacher, and Daneel had to stop himself from laughing out loud as he made this comparison.
That laughter died in his throat, though, when Eloise spoke up and made him widen his eyes with surprise.
"We want to take the test and come with you. Is that possible?"
Daneel was quite taken aback. He had to admit that he had only been thinking about going alone and worming his way through the ranks until he could eventually find a method to bring the Order under him, and he hadn"t had the time to sit down and think deeply about it.
Hence, he hadn"t considered this option yet- that he might be able to bring his invaluable sovereigns inside along with him.
The surprise was only because he hadn"t expected this to be their first answer, but as he thought about it, he realized that he had forgotten that slowly, his team of sovereigns who were initially just mediocre Central Continent dwellers before, had almost all grown up to become individuals who could probably rival many of the seeds in the Big Four.
As such, there was no reason for them not to eye the Order and want to take the test themselves, so that they could enter and help him in his goal which almost seemed laughable when one considered that this was something that hadn"t been achieved in a long, long time, from even before the Empire had even existed.
That was such an unfathomable period of time, and this seemed to be such an unfathomably powerful organization that only someone as differently wired in their head as the King could even possibly think of setting such a goal for himself, and because they had gotten used to him doing so and then somehow achieving them in the end, they hadn"t even needed a lot of time to get over their surprise.
After a few moments of thinking to himself, Daneel could only burst out laughing and almost feel like he was a parent who was seeing his children all grown up and wanting to go out into the real world. That was true in terms of power, at least, and he was actually very happy that he had chosen the right kind of people who would even be ready to march into the gates of death with him, even if he didn"t ask them for it.
"I don"t see why not. There is a provision where anyone who is in the Order can bring anyone they want to the mountaintop, where they will also undergo the test. If they pa.s.s and make the choice, they will keep their memories, and if not, they will be transported back to the same place as if nothing has happened. It will be up to your own strength, because I have no idea just what kind of criteria will be used to judge your performances. Also… I will have to erase all memories of this conversation from your minds, because it will be quite bad for us if we let it slip that I somehow managed to retain my memories of the fight, and that I bypa.s.sed their oath in this manner. That is the ultimate taboo, and I"m sure that no rules of secrecy will save me if it is exposed that I was capable of such a feat. I was only able to retain memories because of something that was handed down to me by the Emperor, and even they don"t know about it, and it has to be kept a secret. I will, however, leave behind a thought within your minds that you must win, and after that, I will personally restore your memories and explain everything. However, we should first make a decision regarding who is going to stay, and who will be coming with me. I don"t think I need to tell you that I cannot take all of you."
Daneel had no option but to lie once again to conceal the system which had allowed him to retain his memories. After he spoke, relief could be seen on the faces of everyone that was present as, but when he said the last statement, it was obvious to whom he was referring to.
They were Robert, Kellor, and Luther, who could be said to be the weakest in the sovereigns.
As Daneel had expected, though, these three actually got smiles on their faces, and Kellor spoke up.
"If all of you leave, there should be someone to hold the fort, right? The three of us will be more than happy to stay behind and act in your stead. At the same time, we will work on our power to make sure that we don"t fall behind all you youngsters. All that remains to be established is-"
BANG!
Interrupting Kellor, Daneel suddenly stood up from his throne, and because he hadn"t been able to control his power, his feet made a loud sound on the invisible podium that they were all sitting on in their dreams.
All of the sovereigns looked at him with consternation on their faces, because on his, they could see a slight amount of shock.
"Stay here, I"ll be back soon. Something"s come up."
Saying so and not waiting for any response, Daneel directly teleported away, and in barely a few moments time, he was right outside the secret spot where he had stored the Natural Energised Training Chamber that he had obtained from Eldinor.
The reason behind his reaction had been that he had received a message from the system that said that there was something abnormal going on inside the chamber which had triggered a few of the detection formations he had placed, and as he arrived, he could see what was wrong, too.
Natural Energised Training Chambers didn"t block sound from the inside as a precaution in case something untoward happened during training, but the reverse was true as silence was essential to calmly meditate and absorb Energy.
At the moment, the most horrible of screeches could be heard from inside the chamber, and as Daneel watched, he could even see the chamber slightly vibrating and moving abruptly in different directions, as if someone was. .h.i.tting it with enough force from the inside to cause such movements.
In the background, though, weirdly, Daneel could hear a long stream of clicks and sounds, which sounded familiar.
Recognizing that it was the Divine c.o.c.kroach"s language, he asked the system to translate it, and when he heard the answer, the King of Lanthanor could not feel a chill up his back.
[Translated text: "Mommy!! Mommy!!! It"s happening! I"m finally growing up! But where will I find a mate? Oh, if only that person was one of our species! But he changed the other day, right? Maybe I can ask him to again, so that we can mate! Oh, I hope that works!"]